Inquisition Part Two

Posted on Tue May 20th, 2025 @ 3:19am by Lieutenant JG Nayisa Wrea & Lieutenant Commander P’rel M.D

Mission: Pandora's Box
Location: Intel Suite
Timeline: Immediately following Part One
3080 words - 6.2 OF Standard Post Measure

Last time on Star Trek: Athena

"Lieutenant Zade has died. Her injuries were simply too severe. I found out a little before you arrived".

...

Zade is dead. The words echoed in Nayisa’s mind as she stood frozen, her eyes wide. She forgot how to breathe. It was as if the air itself became sharp, putting enough pressure against her chest that she thought her ribcage would shatter. The ongoing silence only confirmed that the Vulcan wasn’t going to take it back, so Nayisa's free hand hit her communicator. Instead of a request to sickbay, however, there was only silence as the silver-haired woman studied P’Rel’s intense focus.

Across from her was her partner, a friend she couldn’t protect from their situation. Their captor slowly circled the pair, coming to a stop behind him. During an earlier respite, they had agreed to not say anything. His breathing was heavy, his head tilted up by the hand tangled in his sandy hair. Stay silent, no matter what. That was the last thing his eyes said to her.

Something clicked in Nayisa's mind. Through the sharp pang of disbelief and loss, logic --and more importantly, experience-- started to seep through. There was a reason why intelligence officers didn’t forge friendships, at least not deep or meaningful ones; those exact alliances could be weaponised. She followed a new rule after that fateful day nearly five years ago, that Didrea would be her only true friend because the odds of them being in that situation was next to none. Fate did put them on the same ship, though, so perhaps those odds were higher than she thought. She knew P'Rel was aware of their friendship, and it was reasonable to assume the Vulcan was exploiting it now. Deactivating the communicator, her shock at the news became suspicion, but she didn’t say anything, instead letting her hand fall to her side. If P’Rel could play the silent game, so could she.

The Vulcan and the human locked eyes, both of them a game of Zackdorn 'Kinsa' - or what humans referred to as one of their flightless consumable birds - neither willing to back down first. P'rel knew that Wrea didn't disbelieve here, but then again she didn't entirely fall for it either. Had the Vulcan thought of this beforehand, she could have simply created a false log to register Zade as deceased. Nonetheless she had the tools she had, a silly axiom but one which often embodied her position.

Pressing ahead as if shoving a thumb into an open phaser burn, the Vulcan calmly proceeded as if Wrea were fully engrossed by the lie; hoping that her perseverance would tip the Lieutenant into full belief. "Before her death, Lieutenant Zade must have assisted you. There is no other way you could have achieved this without the assistance of the Security Chief" P'rel stated as if it were fact, hoping to provoke Wrea into confessing more details. "This is how she will be now be remembered. Her final acts, helping you to kill Starfleet Officers. A stupid person, whose acts of betrayal got herself killed whilst you remained safely aboard the ship..." she pressed, a cold and flat expression upon her face. A simple reeling off of immovable 'facts'. "...You must be pleased with how easy she was to manipulate".

“Is that how little you think of me?” Nayisa's words were quiet but held her restrained, bubbling anger. The hand still on the chair behind her tightened its grip. “Do you really think I'm stupid enough to involve someone who didn't even trust me with evidence during Kane's trial?” Perhaps it was an admission, at least confirmation that she had worked alone in this specific case, but she didn't care. P'Rel was not only digging her heels into this claim, but insulting Didrea in the process as well. The logical side of her brain told her to reel it in, that riling her up was intentional, however that logic was but a whisper in the crowd of emotion. “I specifically don't tell Didrea about my work, even what's been declassified. She would lose it if I ever told her about Mos-” A brief and subtle widening of the eyes accompanied the realisation that she began to slip. She was talking to P'Rel like she was talking to Darin, which was a dangerous slope because she didn't hold back when she talked to the only other collaborator she personally knew. That one little partial confession was sure to close off any possible path out of the corner she found herself backed into.

'Mos' - the single syllable hit like a whip cracking as the Vulcan's head twitched in recognition. "Mosaic" she finished for Wrea. "You are a Mosaic operative" she stated as fact, not even bothering to pose a question. P'rel took only the briefest of pauses to analyse Wrea's words, and the tenses used. She was apparently alone, or had support she was unaware of at least; and from her tentative third hand understanding Mosaic operatives almost always acted independently. "I am briefed on the project Lieutenant" she lied; "though I do not understand how the late Lieutenant Zade could have been so incompetent..." she left the vague and untrue accusation for Wrea to find her own meaning. P'rel watched for the reactions to her provocation and would allow the Lieutenant to lead the divulging now she was in a heightened emotional state.

While Nayisa knew to control her facial expressions, the shock factor from the news of her friend's death and the continued slander made her recognition of P'Rel's words slip though. "Wrea to Sickbay," she suddenly said, with a slap to her communicator. There were too many variables to keep track of at the moment. "What is Zade's condition?"

"The Lieutenant is currently resting."

Nayisa narrowed her eyes slightly toward the Vulcan. The response confirmed her suspicions, that she was trying to manipulate the silver-haired woman. "Thank you, that is all." Closing comms, she took a second to feel the relief of the news while sorting out what to address next. P'Rel finished her words without leaving much wiggle room to refute the claim that she was a Mosaic operative, so perhaps moving the proverbial goalpost would be reasonable. "If you are briefed, then you'd know what I'm doing and this discussion would be pointless."

P'rel for the first time, as if this were a chess board and she had lost her queen, looked away as she absorbed the loss, the blow, the metaphoric knee to the groin - but just for a moment. Dodging both the challenge, and indeed the apology which was not necessary; Wrea was after all an SI operative - she knew it was not personal and that claims of Zade's death was simply tradecraft. Emotional manipulation. Cruel. But just business.

Whatever was behind that damn encryption be it an entire message, a report of some kind, instructions, orders; whatever it may be the computer had seemingly locked onto something. Perhaps because it was so benign or perhaps - in a highly illogical personification - the computer had become 'confused' by the common term relating any one of hundreds - thousands - of operational protocols on a starship and their inherent redundancies. Regardless of why, the phrase had been mirrored into the archival save as the contents behind the ES5 protocol had been deleted. P'rel's second piece of the puzzle; the equally innocuous seeming file contents.

"Contingency four or five?" the Vulcan probed, again feigning more knowledge than she actually possessed.

While Nayisa had won that battle, the information war was far from over. She was about 80% certain that P'Rel was pulling her leg again, repurposing the tactic she'd used to manipulate the friendship with Didrea, but a seed of doubt grew in the remaining 20%. Nobody knew who the Fives were. For all she knew, the Vulcan could be one of them. She could easily see this tactic used by the Fives as a trick to weed out those too weak to keep their secrets close.

As morbid as it sounded, it would have been simpler if Zade had died. Without the risk of her friend's emotional outburst over what Nayisa considered child's play intel, she had nothing to lose and could keep her mouth shut. But, she was back to square one: damage control. Unfortunately, none of the contingencies accounted for an insanely nosey Vulcan.

"Shots in the dark won't get you anywhere." Nayisa crossed her arms, though if anything it was to hide the adrenaline that made her fingers tremble. "I've already told you that this doesn't compromise the squadron or its crew. Mosaic will, however, put lives at risk if its intel leaks to the wrong party, and I think you know that I will do everything possible to prevent that." The silver-haired woman paused for a second, feeling as if she were playing 2D chess on a 3D board. "I have the clearance to disclose what I had sent. But my condition stands: no unwanted eyes or ears. Then you are free to make your own judgement call."

P'rel looked at Wrea, as if visually analysing her would somehow assist her in deciding what to do. Logically, she should proceed with every method available to obtain as much information as possible. She could then decide what to do with it.

"Computer. Security seal, protocol four seven sigma" she said aloud, hearing the subtle clunk of the doors magnetically and mechanically locks; though unseen the computer was switching over to the hardened ODN lines and physically disconnecting the recording sensors. Her stare at Wrea unbroken, P'rel raise a brow as if to challenge the younger woman to make good.

The room became slightly quieter, and a couple seconds later the computer chimed in finality. They were now isolated from the rest of the ship; no comms, no surveillance. The conversation now existed only in the space between them. With a subtle nod of thanks, Nayisa approached the desk, familiar enough with the controls to flip the workspace to her side of the desk. She typed something, knowing P'Rel had a keen eye on her, and made a mental note to change the encryption protocol as soon as she was able. It made her slightly nervous to show someone else the details of this work, as the last time she entrusted someone outside of the project with such information, they ended up dead.

It was only fortunate that the Vulcan currently staring her down was difficult to get rid of.

The ES5_Code_Input warning changed into an Access granted message, then it disappeared before pulling up two files. Nayisa knew the system well enough to know that it had pulled the previously inaccessible files before the room locked down, so opening the files wasn't an issue. The first was an earlier draft of the investigation report that had been circulating around the squadron earlier that morning, a section at the bottom that wasn't part of the original report flashing the same code input message. Another quick type revealed the text, the only notable part being the name DARIUS WULFE looming like an intrusive presence. The second was the communications log between herself and mystery user 0502. Admittedly, Nayisa was surprised that P'Rel's investigation even caught the chat log, because it certainly didn't exist on her computer anymore.

Keeping a watchful eye on Wrea's fingers, the Vulcan committed to memory the protocol for accessing for Mosaic data. In doing so, she subtly though purposefully made sure Wrea noticed what she was doing. If she was lucky, the act would provoke Wrea into changing the protocol and P'rel would have access to it whenever she pleased. That was, of course, if she could monitor Wrea after this meeting.

"Since I don't know how much you actually know about Mosaic," Nayisa began, meeting P'Rel's gaze, "it's a Wanted Persons case for a highly elusive target. I have reason to believe that Mosaic's target coordinated the explosions on the surface. An alias might have bought him time, but he was flagged through behavioural profiling and key ship identifiers. Due to the Pandora Protocols, though, I had to let him go." P'Rel wouldn't have needed to use any of her intelligence expertise to hear how much Nayisa disagreed with the decision. Knowing that the communications log clearly indicated that another collaborator was nearby, the silver-haired woman anticipated the follow-up. "Contrary to the well-crafted rumours, we don't always work alone, but most of the time a high clearance is required to even know the other names." It wasn't the entire truth, but hopefully it was enough to satisfy the curiosity.

P'rel pretending to pause to consider the next move; she had made her mind up early on that regardless of the outcome she would set a trap for the Lieutenant. Confining her to quarters with every shred of computer access monitored and recorded. "I thank you for your eventual candour..." P'rel began; "...however, at this time it is appropriate that I remove your access privileges and confine you to quarters". She looked up to meet the eyes of the much younger woman; "I hope I do not need to require security to escort you there...".

Ugh, not again. Nayisa gave her an 'are you actually serious' expression. Ultimately, the two of them knew that confining her to quarters was rather silly to someone like Nayisa, who had made a career out of being an escape artist, but she'd comply if that's what the Vulcan wanted. But Nayisa's skills aside, that decision was... well, made."You realise that we are in the middle of an investigation and a game of keep-away with pirates, right? I'm coordinating data flow for both. Is it wise to take me out now?" Even if she were taken off the investigation, she knew that Darin would be able to read between the lines. It was only hours ago that the two of them talked, and having her go dark would tell him everything he needed to know.

"You can delegate your task to any of our counterparts within the fleet" P'rel flatly replied, hoping that the Lieutenant would rise to the bait and make contact with someone who could help her.

A sigh. "I did agree that the judgement call is yours." Nayisa knew that her fate now partially rested in P'Rel's hands. While she trusted P'Rel with this information, the infiltration specialist was under strict orders to not trust anyone outside the project. Begrudgingly, it's why she limited her disclosure only to what P'Rel's investigation had uncovered. "My only request: I have made sure that Zade is strictly need-to-know with this. I would only ever disclose this to her if I were authorised to declassify this project." Breaking the staring contest, Nayisa looked at the investigation report on the holodisplay between them. "Didrea has a negative history with Darius, and she will become emotionally compromised if she learns of his involvement in what happened on the surface. Like, it will make your definition of 'illogical' seem like child's play. For her sake, please do not tell her about this."

Tilting her head slightly, P'rel hoped her microexpressions did not give away her thoughts. An old Klingon 'negotiation' technique from well over a century ago came to mind; the denial of a request...why?...because the opponent wished it. There was a certain wisdom that logic; though in practice such a steadfast belligerence was rarely conducive to furthering ones own aims. Instead, she combined the concept with a more human technique - an outright lie. "Certainly" P'rel conceded untruthfully. She could not give Wrea the benefit of the doubt as to why Zade could not be involved, and the fact that Wrea had a motivation was - at least for now - suspicious enough. She would proceed straight to sickbay once Wrea was dismissed.

One of the many things ingrained into the silver-haired woman through a handful of experiences was the concept of trust, but verify. She only had P'Rel's word, which would have to do even though they both knew the trust level was not that high at the moment. "I know I didn't give you much of an answer, but my hands are tied. The clearance required to even see the full scope of Mosaic is insane." To indicate that she was done with the controls, Nayisa simply took a step back from the desk. "Buuut... Darius' record is archived in the SI database with the other case files. You can at least see what he's done."

A moment passed; then another, finally P'rel decided that sufficient time had elapsed so as not to look to eager to wrap the conversation. She did, after all, need to finish laying the trap which was still formulating in her mind. "Whilst I appreciate your eventual...candour" the Vulcan falsely conceded with a slight tilt of her head; "...there is much to verify. There are corpses in the wake of your decisions, and those who may yet become more corpses...". P'rel thumbed the door release, and the maglocks could be heard disengaging and an almost imperceptible change in the lighting revealed the full circuits to the room being reconnected. As the suit doors opened, the two security guards outside followed protocol and stepped inside. "As I said; you are confined to quarters until further notice. This is to protect you from further allegation, as much as it is to protect the investigation and the lives you dismissively appear to endanger" she flatly stated, trying to hide - if not suppress - her disappointment. "She is to remain there" P'rel finished, with a look directly at Zade's people.

This in itself was a key part of the trap. They were Zade's people. Wrea would know that the Chief would find out something, and she hoped the pressure and anxiety to conceal the extent of the situation would prompt Wrea to act.

Nayisa stared at P'Rel for a couple more seconds, trying to get anything else from the Vulcan's stoicism, before breaking her gaze to look at the security officers. "Yeah, yeah, I know the way."